Page 3. The Merino – the earliest breed

History in Europe

For centuries, the ancient Merino breed had been renowned
in Spain for its fine wool. The Merino industry was so
valuable that the penalty for exporting the sheep was death.
After the Peninsular campaign of the Napoleonic wars
disrupted Spanish society in 1807–14, the wool industry
declined and Merinos spread throughout Europe, North America
and Australia.

Merinos on the move

The Mesta, a powerful organisation of Spanish Merino
owners, grazed their huge flocks on Spain’s southern plains
in winter and the northern highlands in summer. Similarly,
on the big sheep stations in New Zealand’s South Island
high country, the animals are often shifted seasonally to
the high mountains in summer, and down to the valleys
before winter – a system called transhumance.

Merinos in New Zealand

The Merino was the first sheep breed brought to New
Zealand in large numbers. The Australian sheep industry was
based on Merinos, and from the 1840s to early 1860s thousands
were transported across the Tasman Sea. They were not always
good quality, so New Zealand breeders imported small numbers
from Germany, France, Britain and the US to improve the
stock. By the early 1880s the New Zealand Merino had become a
distinct type.

Rich results

George Rich, who emigrated to New Zealand in 1840,
became one of the world’s top Merino breeders. In1858 he
toured Europe to find the best flocks, and imported sheep
from Prussia and France to improve his stud. In 1861 he
exported 28 ewes and rams from New Zealand to the famous
French Merino flock at Rambouillet. Two years later, his
son sold a ram in Sydney for £300 – a record price.

Merino problems

Footrot

Pastoralists and farmers soon discovered that Merinos were
prone to footrot in warm moist conditions. Originating from a
semi-arid land, the breed was not resistant to the disease.
Footrot infects the tissue inside the hoof – in severe cases,
the horny part can detach from the rest of the foot.
Infection can result in weight loss, reduced productivity and
death. Settlers on small farms in wet districts or with heavy
soils found they could not keep Merinos.

Unsuitability for meat production

For centuries, Merinos had been bred only for their wool,
without considering meat production. The animals are lean and
slow to mature, and settlers found them unsuitable for
producing meat, compared with British breeds. By the early
1870s pastoralists had no outlet for their surplus sheep,
except boiling them down for tallow (rendered fat, used for
making soap and candles). The Merino was too lean to make
this profitable, so, like small farmers, pastoralists looked
to other breeds that would provide a better return.

Mixed-blood Merinos

In 1868 the manager of the Levels sheep station in South
Canterbury mated a line of Merino ewes with English
Leicester rams as an experiment. The results were so
successful that by 1879 only 6,300 of the 80,000 sheep
shorn on the station were pure Merinos.

The shift away from Merinos

Merinos were the basis of the New Zealand sheep flock, so
breeders who wanted to change their type of sheep had to
cross-breed their Merino ewes with a British-breed sire.
Small farmers began cross-breeding sheep in the 1840s to
overcome footrot and to produce a sheep with a meatier
carcass. In the 1860s, some South Island pastoralists also
experimented with cross-breeding.

The new fashion for worsted cloth in Britain, Europe and
America encouraged this change. The process for making the
fabric required long wool with good tensile strength that
could be mechanically combed without breaking. The machinery
of the time could not use short, fine Merino wool, but wool
from half-bred sheep – the first cross of a Merino and a
long-wool breed – proved ideal. Half-bred wool provided
better returns for growers.

In the early 2000s, New Zealand had about 3 million
Merinos out of a total 39 million sheep.